From Wednesday 2nd January, most bus services return to normal service levels.
Most, that is, except for First. Route X2 is still suspended. Routes 4/4A/X4, 26, B1/B2/B3, H1/H2 and S1 are back to normal. All other First routes are still running to a reduced timetable.
It's all back to normal from Sunday 6th January. Even First X2 will be running again.
is that a sign ,that the x2 is on its deathbed?if they can keep it offthe road,when folk are back to work from tommorow,then why bring it back again?
ReplyDeleteI have to agree that it certainly looks like the beginning of the end for the X2. It was a brave attempt by First to try to reserect the old Hants and Dorset 35 route, but looking at the loadings, it seems that the good folk of Millbrook have got used to riding to town via Shirley. I dont think the old wrecks used on the route have done it any favours either, and now that Bluestar have a bus every few minutes along Millbrook Road, the X2 isnt picking up any passing trade there. Doubt that Firsts fare increases will help! First still seem totally out of touch with what the people of Southampton want from a bus service, despite revamping everything last year.....
DeleteAlthough cutting the X2 over the festive period was a little odd I totally disagree with the rest of your comments.
DeleteI've travelled on the X2 quite a bit and loading have improved considerably. It also picks up a fair amount of trade along Millbrook and Waterloo Roads. Calling the buses old wrecks is a tad harsh as although they are ' R' registration they are in pretty good condition. Don't forget that First are investing in updating the fleet (although it is rather slow)
In my general experience of using buses in Southampton First buses are generally busier now than a year ago. They are also more reliable than Blue star where you often see 3 18s running together...
Absolutely agree re the 18s; they never run in groups of less than 2, and 3 one behind the other is more the norm. Shirley High street is difficult bus territory because of the traffic and the X2 is getting better loadings, the worse Shirley gets.Bluestar appear to make no effort to regulate the 18s like First due from the hut in Pound Tree Road.
ReplyDeleteThe X2 is doing much much better than the Bluestar 16 is!!
Oh dear Ben, you seem to be yet another one who has little understanding of running a high frequency service in a densely populated city. It takes very little to hold buses up, and they actually seldom run in twos, but like everyone else, you seem to only ever focus on the odd occasions, usually at peak times. Bluestar make a lot of effort to regulate them from their box at the Bargate, but when you are running such a fantastic frequency, its a job to know where to stack buses in a city centre! Often its easier to just let them run, and when they have so many people on them, you can hardly tell them all to get off!
DeleteI am surprised to hear your comments about the 16 and X2.... Lets face it, along with firsts 11, they are all dead ducks!
Ben is quite right that observations throughout the day not just at peaks shows route 18 buses running with very short gaps behind them. they don't have to be regulated at the city centre. Any sensible bus company would get drivers to pick up their times by running dead to a timed location!. I think the X2 could be better marketted and the 11 is without doubt a money loser. However an officer from First has told me they are nervous of the 16 and the 3 running via Peartree as both have made inroads into revenue.
DeleteThe 3 via Woolston appears to be an utter waste of fuel, picked up nobody between Bitterne and City on the frequent occasions I've travelled on it. Rumours from Barton Park is it will be pulled soon as its loosing money.
ReplyDeleteThe 18 regularly decends into chaos with two or three buses within three minutes then nothing for twenty or thirty minutes, there appears to be no regulation from the bluestar box - the guy in there just sells tickets and gossips with drivers whilst I've been waiting all too long at the bluestar box. I'm told the bluestar 2 is also terribly unreliable, a friend commutes Portswood to Eastleigh and regularly waits up to an hour in the evening peak for a return journey.
First may not have the newest vehicles but at least their services retain a semblance of keeping to time.
You are clearly a First employee! The 3 service is progressing well, and there are absolutely no plans to change anything, except to review the frequency upwards! Serious inroads are being made with this service.
DeleteThe 18 will always be a difficult service, but the numbers carried on it suggest that the customers like it a lot... The "guy" in the Bluestar box is employed to serve the public, not to regulate services in any way, and he will never chat to drivers unless there is nothing else going on. He will never leave a member of the public waiting, and does a first class job. An inspector is also stationed there for all driver and service related matters.
I have never heard such nonsense about the 2 route. It has a wonderful reliability record, and normally runs within 2 minutes of its scheduled timings, unless something totally unforseen has happened. If it were as unreliable as you say, the Traffic Commissioners would have jumped on it.....
I would also like to reply to the poster who came up with the brilliant suggestion of the 18 drivers being instructed to catch up time by running dead to a timing point....Just where would you suggest they run through, to catch up their time? The whole reason that they run adrift of time, is because the roads are clogged with traffic! Again, someone who has no understanding of running a high frequency service in a congested city. If you can find a way of fitting rotors to the tops of the buses, please let us all know!
Why post anonymously Mr Bluestar? Then again you couldn't possibly be a Bluestar employee, every person I've spoken to there says the 3 is a dead duck waiting to be put out of its misery with pressure from First and Velvet.
DeleteOh Mr. Bluestar, what blinkered eyes you have. many of the problems on the 18 could be solved if only the servcie was regulated. Example. Three buses arrive together at city from thornhill; quite a common occurence in my experience. The one that is running (say) 15 late should be terminated, passengers transferredand run dead to Millbrook along millbrook Rd avoiding the car park that is Shirley High St and fill the gap in the service around Millbrook and back to City.
DeleteAn operator (not First or BS) does this commonly on the cross city routes I use in my city every day; it isn't great for the passengers on the terminated bus but it does improve the service overall. It takes some effort and no little skill; BS may well have the skill to regulate properly but up to now have lacked the effort on occasions.
Now what would be interesting Mr Bluestar is what your reliability stats are like on routes like the 18. Southampton isn't easy operating territory for any of the operators I accept but from my observations the 18s are a real issue in terms of lateness and bunching
the 3 under pressure from velvet???brave move by velvet,but sadly lacking in something ,by not picking up from the bargate and civic centre road,where the other two companies routes to hedge end depart from.
ReplyDeleteJust taking note of a couple of point's raised in previous post's, why has Blustar now decided to review their services between Southampton and Hedge End? They couldn't be bothered with it when they operated it unchallaged, now that First and Velvet have stepped in with decent frequencies i can only assume Bluestar feel they've missed a trick! First and Velvet deserve to do well with their respective services considering Bluestar has virtually handed the Hedge End to Southampton corridor to them on a plate!
ReplyDeleteWith regards to regulation of services, where do i start with this one..... i drove the 18/19s when Solent Blue Line operated them as crew routes, when buses did start bunching and admittedly it didn't happen that often, we were instructed to terminate the service at Bargate for instance, put any passengers on the bus in front or behind and run empty more often than not to either Shirley precient via Waterloo Rd or Bitterne Safeways double back via Bitterne Bypass,
This is where Bluestar's problem's lie....where are the road inspectors??? you can't regulate buses running at high frequency effectively by sitting in a box!
Inspectors need to be out on the road seeing where the delays are and diverting buses accordingly, to run a service by bunching 2 or 3 buses together just shows a lack of organisation and a total disregard for passenger expectations of the service actually adhering to the advertised timetable.
I think you will find that the Bluestar route change is purely to pinch passengers from First, as retaliation against the 11 route. There is no serious intent to try to reclaim the route.
DeleteBluestar are introducing real time technology, which will help them regulate 18s (and anything else which needs it) from a much smaller box! They have just appointed a number of on the road inspectors who will be out there very soon. Things are changing as we speak!
bluestar are very babyish!we saw that in the eastleigh area ,when velvet started their b service ,a while back and bluestar came and put a b service on ,running 3 mins before velvets.first start running to marchwood ,then all of a sudden bluestar can find it viable to run to marchwood every 30 mins,during the day and on suns,despite telling everyone,that they could`nt run on suns ,as it was deemed unprofitable!
ReplyDeleteBully boys more like. They got away with it against the small operators but I think they are struggling a little now with battles in several areas and their silly 16 route.
DeleteThey have a strong base network but Go Ahead have declared bus revenue is to be greatly increased in the next few years and Bluestar will find that difficult with so many battles to fight.
They have just appointed a number of on the road inspectors who will be out there very soon. Anon 5-1-13 17:12.
ReplyDeleteGood news; I take no pleasure from Bluestar's travails with the 18 which could be a great route if it was run properly; I hope it soon will be.
First's 7 which has the same frequency as BS18 doesn't have anywhere near the same level of bunching, and nor does First's 1 or 3 with a 10 minute headway.